Marketing Tip Of The Year

Imperfection is beauty.

Madness is genius.

It's better to be absolutely 

ridiculous than absolutely boring

Promise yourself: 

"My business will 

never be boring. 

   Never."

  And you will never be out of  business.

You Can't Make This Stuff Up

My son, daughter in law and the two cutest grand children on the planet recently moved from Silver Spring, Maryland to Concord, Massachusetts.

While visiting with them and sharing breakfast in a place called Village Restaurant, my daughter in law mentioned how nice people were in Concord and how helpful. Specifically she mentioned that on one trip to the local Stop n Shop she requested that they carry a certain kind of fruit cup. “Three guys”, she said, “worked on it immediately” and told her that they will order it for her and “should have it in stock when she gets back next week from her trip.”  I was impressed.

Then she told me that when they lived in Maryland, she had asked the same question of the local supermarket and they people on duty just stared at her and said something like, “you’ll have to speak to the owner, mostly they just walked away,” she said.

My marketing mind went to work.

What made the difference between these two stores? Was it hiring the right people? Was it training? Was it empowering people to make a decision? Was it the culture of the organization that expected the customer to be delighted? Was it salary? Was it incentives?

Obviously, it was all of the above. 

But one thing stood out.  After she left the store in Concord, MA, she said, “the manager of the store called her on her cell phone and said he appreciated her input and would call her personally when the product came in.” 

The other store in Maryland didn't even bother to call and say they did not or could not get the product. 

Leadership will tell. Management will tell. If your staff is acting like they don’t care enough about the customer, take a look at how you’re treating the customer.  Then look again.

Once, one of my “former” clients said, “Fred this is a great business and I know I could make a lot of money at it… if it wasn’t for the customers!”   

You can’t make this stuff up.

Be A Brand Or Go Home

Robert Kyosaki, Author of “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”, an All Star Best Seller once said, “If you’re not a brand, you’re a commodity.”

No doubt you’ve heard about branding. It’s the new old buzz word. We used to call it image. Same thing dressed up in the 21st century geek speak.

Do you have any idea what your customers or prospects think about you?  I’m not talking about “oh yeah, the bowling alley. It’s nice, friendly and food and beverage is pretty good. That’s like saying “all puppies are cute.”  Big deal.  

But are you the place to go to for fun with friends?  More importantly, is your center perceives as cool? Or sexy?  Or hot?  Or does it make the customer feel good or feel happy or whatever it is that the target audience wants from their entertainment dollar? 

Why don’t they say, “Oh that place. It is my kind of place. There is always something cool going on there and it’s so much fun.  They have bands, and DJs.  My friends and I love it. It is so cool and even my family goes and hangs there, (when I’m not there of course)".  LOL.

Think about it. What do you think about when I say Wal-Mart, McDonalds, Nordstroms, and Cheesecake Factory?

What does your customer think about you when they say your centers name?  What values have you been able to attach to your center that the consumer can feel good about.

If you’re NOT going to try and be a brand that consumers can clearly define, then get in line to follow the leader down the path of looking for the magic bullet another magic program that will get “everyone” to come in to your center.

Or you can keep pumping out those Facebook sales posts and email sell posts. Has it really helped your business?  Last I checked more centers were off in open play then were up in open play.

Could it be because open play programs are just getting boring, feel worn out and seemingly presented as another scoop of vanilla ice cream served up from a nondescript store.

Right now you are all commodities and that’s why they shop you like a commodity… so the customer just picks the center with the best special which really means cheapest price and that has an obvious consequence for all of us.

Moral of this rant: Be a “brand” or go home.

7 Point Rosh Hashanah Marketing Checklist

Monday (9.17) marks Rosh Hashanah, (pronounced rush-hahsh-un-uh) the Jewish new year celebration and the beginning of the Days of Awe –

Rosh Hashanah, literally the "head of the year" is considered the birthday of Adam and Eve (and the rest of creation) and just as it marks the creation of humanity, every year it offers an opportunity for a new era in one's personal life. 

To all our friends, we wish you the traditional blessing of a joyous and sweet new year filled with peace and prosperity.

We also encourage you to take some time today (Monday) and examine your business and how you have been marketing your business.

Here’s my 7 Point “Rosh Hashanah Marketing Checklist"

1.      Do you really know who your customer is and what motivates him to choose bowling vs. other activities he could be doing?

2.      If you or a member of your family received a promotional offer from your center would it motivate you or a family member to go bowling?  Really?  Why?

3.      Are you offering a good value; maybe even a great value for your prospect?  Would you think it was a good value if you hadn’t been bowling in over one year?

4.      Is your level of service consistently good?  What could you do to surprise your customer and make his experience something that would create multiple word of mouth mentions?

5.      Is your communication building relationships, engaging your customers, creating a dialogue and providing valuable information or are you just selling, selling and selling

6.      Are you targeting specific messages to specific segments?  Are the messages you send relevant to that segment?  How do you know?  Have you asked anyone?

7.      What creative ways could you sell open play besides “Price?”  C’mon, you can do it. Think.  Look at other industries!

Rosh Hashanah. A time to renew, reinvent, reinvigorate and reenergize. Please use the day wisely.

Here's How To Hire A "Computer Guy."

Social Media Marketing is a rapidly evolving practice. And to the extent it evolves, the more we sometime need help and assistance. 

Just recently, I have been receiving a bevy of calls from clients and proprietor friends asking me about what criteria they should use when hiring a "computer guy" to help them with their social media stuff.

So i thought i would get to a bunch of my resources and develop a quick criteria for you

When you go out to recruit a vendor, realize that while the capabilities of each are very similar,

the service element can vary wildly from vendor to vendor.

It pays to take extra time in the evaluation process to determine what kind of service the vendor “really” offers, and what you are getting with your particular package. Naturally, a “premium” package will usually offer more customer support. That can be a worthwhile investment.

Don’t hesitate to ask vendors for references to ascertain what the service and support experience is actually all about. And to the extent possible, it is extremely useful to find your own independent reference of someone who has used that particular SMM platform.

For each of the following criteria, ask yourself if the solution offered by the vendor you are speaking to address and answer that need.

Also on the left side of these questions write down: "Must Have" or "Like To have" next to the item. If you have to compromise, then compromise on the "likes", not on the "musts".

PAGE MANAGEMENT

q Comprehensive page design and publishing tools

q Publishing to multiple social properties and networks

q Pre-built, customizable page templates

q Ability to create custom templates that can be shared across the enterprise

q Ability to lock down template components to ensure consistent branding

q Flexibility to build fully custom pages from scratch

q Plug-ins for apps and pre-built engagement content (e.g., fan-gated contests, polls, quizzes, etc.)

q Real-time page performance tracking and analytics

MESSAGING MANAGEMENT

q Comprehensive messaging management tools

q Cascading permissions and work flow for message handling and publishing

q Message scheduling and automated posting

q Publishing of messages to multiple social properties and networks

q Unified social message inbox

q Keyword filtering and flagging (e.g., for profanity)

q Real-time message tracking and analytics

PROMOTION MANAGEMENT

q Comprehensive promotion publishing and management tools

q Pre-built promotion campaign templates optimized to drive entry and engagement

q Support for wide variety of promotion types (e.g., contests, coupons, sweepstakes, pick a favorite,

quizzes, trivia, etc.)

q Real-time promotion tracking and analytics

SOCIAL ADVERTISING MANAGEMENT

q Social advertising planning, purchasing, management, and optimization

q Automated multivariate testing of advertising creative content (i.e., thousands of ad variations)

q Ability to optimize ad cost, clicks, and post-click engagement

q Advertising across multiple social networks

q Real-time ad performance tracking and analytics, including post-click engagement activity

SOCIAL DATA MANAGEMENT

q Capture and aggregation of consumer social data in a unified repository

q Retrieval of complete history of consumer interactions on brand Facebook wall

q Custom segmentation of social audience data

q Analysis of consumer interests

q Targeting based on consumer interests

MOBILE SUPPORT

q Native support for mobile content and devices

q Auto-optimized content for any display (design content once and deploy to any device)

You may very well have more criteria or want to modify this list, but use it as a start when hiring a vendor.

And as always, if you have a question or need  some information, don't hesitate to call me @ 516 359 4874

7 Types Of People You Never Want To Hire

One of my favorite bloggers is a consultant and partner at  Invisor Consulting http://www.invisor.net/ named Steve Tobak. 

As you climb into the new season and begin hiring more people, I thought this article would bve beneficial for you.  Hope you like it

Its from MoneyWatch COMMENTARY Every incompetent employee, lunatic boss and deceitful salesperson is someone's loving spouse and loyal friend. That does not mean you should hire, work for, trust or do business with them. And yet, we do exactly that, time and again.

Sometimes we get taken; it happens to everyone. But other times we ignore all sorts of red flags. We act against our better judgment.

But why? I mean, why would you or anyone make a ridiculously important decision "against your better judgment?" Because, at that moment, you choose to believe that pigs can fly. That miracles do happen. That universal laws don't apply to you because you're special.

You choose hopes and dreams over reason and instinct.

Well, here's the thing. Pigs can't fly, miracles don't happen, the laws of physics do apply to you and hope is always a dumb strategy. Instead of hopes and dreams, learn to listen to your better judgment, trust your instincts, and keep these seven types of people out of your business.

Trendy self-promoters. There are tons of self-proclaimed entrepreneurs branding themselves as Gen Y consultants, personal branding experts, or both. They're experts all right -- at branding themselves and making money off a trendy stereotype or label.

Salespeople who know their product doesn't work. Everyone on Wall Street knows that past performance is no indicator of future results and active money management doesn't outperform the broad market. And yet, money managers make fortunes selling products they know don't work. How do they sleep at night?

Bottom feeders. When bubbles burst, economies go south and once-thriving industries dry up, enterprising people find other ways to make a living. The worse the economy gets, the more life and career coaches there are. Imagine that. Look, if you need help, find someone who was actually successful at what you want to become.

Anyone calling himself a guru. You know why accomplished people don't think of themselves as experts, let alone call themselves gurus? Because they're smart enough to know better. Competent people are confident, not deluded.

Needy, bottomless pits. Social networks now make it possible for anyone with a computer and an IP address to try to rope you into their endless life drama or whacko agenda. It never starts out that way, but it inevitably ends up as a bottomless pit of attention-getting need.

Narcissistic charmers. Some people are so small and weak inside that they have to build their own egos up so they don't have to face how they really feel. They're very good at making you feel special just to be in their presence. But it's all a facade. And get this. Some of them manage to con their way into high-level positions. No kidding.

Slippery yes men. The world is full of people who will say or do anything to gain your confidence or get into your inner circle. You could be heading for disaster, but they'll find a way to sugarcoat it and blow smoke up your you-know-what. Don't even try to hold them accountable; it's like shooting darts at Jello.

Just remember, these are not all bottom feeders you can spot in an instant and steer clear of with ease. Lots of them are highly successful and very wealthy. Some are even senior executives and business leaders. So stay on your toes -- it's a jungle out there.

Wow, Wow, Wow

You can’t get open play business by more price specials. Didn’t the last three years teach you that? Didn’t we all figure out that the low price position kills?  And even though Joe down the street is selling bowling for 99 cents in September and October, Joe is also closing a bunch of centers he USED to own!! Like maybe 30 or 40.

Make your open bowling a spectacular event. Make it an affair to remember.Make it an NFL game. Make it a college football homecoming.

Don’t people want that? Look at the special events all around you charging $25 to $250 per person even in the worst markets?                                                                                                                                        

Because people will pay for DIFFERENT.  Because people will pay not to be bored. Because people will pay to feel good.              

                                                             

Now Imagine communicating through an old time megaphone by a ringmaster who says:

“Ladies and gentlemen and children of all ages, happy lanes is introducing  rock n rolling, the greatest show on earth featuring bowling, music, lights, music and fog. Only THIS Friday and Saturday night; starting at 9pm until midnight for just $19.95 per person includes unlimited pizza and those cool rental shoes.” Say it in a loud and proud voice.

If it’s an event you can charge a higher price. If it’s every week, it’s the same old same old same old that gets less entertaining, less spectacular and more boring every week regardless of the price.

The only question you should be asking is what are you going to do next week? Will you have a band?  Will you have a theme?  Will you include 50s music with milk and cookies for free?

C'mon - get out of the rut of marketing open play the same old way. Create a spectacular event every weekend. It will wow your customers…and your accountant.

Why Social Media May Be Hurting Your Business

I think social media has reached a tipping point and has created some bad habits for marketers. Too often it is viewed as a “quick fix” for a communication strategy. 

Want to form a new league?  Send out an email. Oh yeah, put it up on Facebook too.  Want to get the word out about your Saturday night music and bowling program? Email all the 18 to 34 yr olds out there. Don’t forget to twitter them if you can.

I don’t know about you, but I think this quick reliance on social media has numbed us to really understanding our customers. 

I mean, if you spoke to 20 of your customers and asked them “personally” about the programs you run or how to communicate it better, I think you would get better information and a deeper understanding of your customers’ motivations.

Secondly, Facebook and Twitter, the new kids on the block may not even exist in the near future. Wasn’t too long ago that AOL and My Space were entrenched entities.  I’ll bet they didn’t think they would fall out of favor so quickly. Where are they now?  

And what about more upstarts like Pinterest, Zynga, Yelp, Pandora, Open Table, Groupon and on and on that are competing with Facebook?  Point is if you want your business to last longer than these entities, that come and go, then don’t JUST rely on social media as the ONLY marketing strategy you have  Too many proprietors are ONLY relying on social media. ONLY!

Here’s another problem - according to an AP Poll - over half of Americans think Facebook is a passing fad and one out of three Facebook users NOW spend less time on the site than a year ago.  Further 4 out of 5 Facebook users have NEVER bought a product or service as a result of a Facebook advertisement.

Now I am not saying to drop your social media programs.  But I am saying that social media on its own cannot do the job of other effective platforms like public relations, your website, old media (which is still effective) and one on one personal communications to your customers in your center.

Bottom line: Think synergy. Think leverage. Think multiple streams of communication.

Think about it.

Expiration

With three days to go, I am hearing some positive or quasi positive things from centers about league floorings. Seems that the people who jumped on the old “bring a friend band wagon” are finding out (AGAIN) that league bowlers"

1.     Like to bowl with their friends

2.    Will ask their friends to bowl if you ask them to ask

3.    Appreciate the rewards you give them for bringing a friend

For those who didn't want to give away a free party or free bowling or (GFB), free shoe rentals, you missed an opportunity to get a $300 to $600 customer.

Why did you do that? 

Did you fear you were going to give up some real dollars, especially if it rained? Did you not see the upside to this strategy because it would “cost money?” Did your old school mind set just get in the way of “freemium” marketing?

There are people out there who believe that the “freemiums” are the ONLY way to build relationships with people which in today’s world is the only way to lead to a sale. 

In the prehistoric B.I. days (Before Internet) we called these “free samples.”  You could see people on the street corners handing out sample cigarette packs, shampoos, hand wipes and all sorts of goodies.  This was done in an effort to get the consumer to try a new product so that he or she would switch from the current brand they were using.

Today we do our sampling over the Internet. Almost every website worth its salt will send you a free book or free white paper or free ‘trial” subscription about a subject it wants to sell you in an effort to convince you that they are:

1.     Sincere in their efforts and wants to gain your trust

2.    Only Interested in your well being and growth

3.    Only want to sell you something so you will be successful

4.    Really just want to sell you something that they produce and continue selling you something FOREVER…

5.    These “internet marketing gurus have developed very successful computer programs that will create new and more exciting offers every X# of days depending on what action or inaction you have taken, until you buy. Or until you scream “no mas.”

Yet so many of us on the bowling proprietor side of the world can’t make the switch to this new “freemium marketing.”  These folks say it devalues bowling.

Giving away your product doesn’t devalue it. Getting more people to try bowling (AGAIN) doesn’t devalue the game. Selling it for 99 cents all summer DOES devalue it.

Having less and less new people try your product only does one thing…causes your businesses' expiration date to come up more quickly.